Issues and Insults
by Akana Akazen
Summary: WESTERN AIR TEMPLE SPOILERS. One shot. Katara can't bring herself to trust Zuko. And why should she, with all that he's done to her? No, she'd rather trade insults than attempt to get along with him. Not Zutara unless you want it to be.


I srsly need moar Avatar. Thank God for fanfics.

-ahem- Anyway, this is a fanfic about Katara and Zuko, but it does _not_ have to be seen as Zutara. In fact, it has some Jetara mentions towards the end. It's just a story about Katara's trust issues dealing with Zuko.

I tried to keep them as IC as possible, but I think I made Katara a little mean. But you know, she _can_ be pretty harsh sometimes... To Toph: "Wow, the stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't _see them_!" And in this case, it's not lack of sleep getting to her, it's an actual obstacle; AKA, a certain betrayal that's mentioned a few times.

But anyway. I hope you all enjoy! Please review, because I love me some constructive criticism.

* * *

Issues and Insults

She all but snatched the bowl from his hand as he passed it to her. "About time," she growled icily. "We've been sitting here starving forever. What took you so long?" There was no answer, so she just scowled at her bowl, suspiciously eying the bits of meat floating in her soup.

Zuko turned to the ledge where he normally sat, but Aang stopped him. "Why don't you eat with us today?" he asked. "After all, you're part of the group now, and you did cook this delicious looking meal for us."

Katara snapped her head up. All eyes were on Zuko, who appeared uncertain. Eventually he shrugged, giving into Aang's imploring eyes, and sat around the evening fire with the rest of them. To Katara's disgust, only Aang separated Zuko and her.

"Katara, your food's getting cold," Aang pointed out, turning his wide eyes onto her. "But if it does, I could just heat it back up for you!" He opened his palm and allowed a small flame to dance there with a playfulness that had become rare in their group. His light, easy smile gave him a more childlike look.

Katara smiled; how could she resist? "Thanks, Aang," she said. He watched her, the flame disappearing, and she knew he wouldn't look away until she ate at least one bite. She picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks and navigated it into her mouth. Aang, satisfied, turned away to listen to Haru, The Duke, and Teo's adventures in the various rooms of the air temple.

To Katara's further Zuko-related disgust, she found that his food was actually… _good_. She swallowed and caught the ex fire prince staring expectantly at her across Aang as though he was waiting for a compliment or something. "Ugh, it's way too spicy," Katara lied easily, sticking her tongue out and fanning it with her hand for emphasis.

Toph, sitting between Sokka and Haru on the opposite side of the evening fire, inconspicuously coughed and slammed her hand on the ground. A small cylinder of earth shot up at an angle from the ground and hit Katara in the arm before retreating back into the earth. She rubbed the place it hit and shot Toph a glare, glad that at least it was quick enough for no one to notice over their conversation.

Except Zuko. Katara heard the sound of a muffled laugh being turned into a cough and swiveled her head to see him quickly stuffing food into his mouth to keep from smiling. She slammed her bowl on the ground and looked at him. "Just _what_ is your problem?!"

Everyone stopped talking and stared at the sudden outburst. Her cheeks started to burn, but she paid no attention, focusing all her energy into glowering at Zuko. He swallowed his food and looked at her with a calm facade. "What are you talking about?" he asked through gritted teeth, obviously trying to contain an outburst of his own.

"I'm onto you," she growled. "I'll bet you… poisoned the food or something!" She switched her gaze to Aang. "Don't eat it!"

He froze with the chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "But Katara -"

She folded her arms resolutely. "Don't trust anything he says or gives you."

Without taking his eyes off her, Zuko put down his bowl, took one of Aang's vegetables out of his bowl, and ate it. "No poison," he said after he swallowed.

"Katara, you're just overreacting," her brother said peaceably. "Since he's been here, he's been nothing but helpful. I understand why you don't trust him, but he's good now. See? He hasn't tried to kill us yet, has he? And watch this." He leisurely threw a piece of meat at Zuko. Everyone but him and Katara laughed as it hit his cheek and slid down his face. He just wiped it away with his sleeve, glaring at Sokka the whole time, and Katara was too angry to be cheered up so easily. "The old Zuko would've started fire-bending at me by now."

"Yeah, Katara," Aang piped in. "We've had plenty of training sessions together where he could've hurt me, but he hasn't yet. And he's a really good teacher. I've been learning a lot!"

"I still don't trust him," Katara sulked, looking at the ground, away from everyone else. "And there's no way I'm eating his food!"

"You're the one who said he should cook for a change," Teo pointed out.

Toph smacked her heel against the floor, using her earth-bending to send Katara's bowl flying through the air. She caught it with a grin. "More for me!" Sokka tried to steal a piece of meat from her bowl, but she smacked his hand away.

The conversation more or less continued after that. Katara's stomach growled loudly, but she didn't move to reclaim her food. Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You're the one with the problem," he grumbled.

She stood up and looked down at him. "_Excuse_ me?!" she demanded. "_I'm_ not the one who's a… a… spoiled fire prince!"

Finally, Zuko could take it no longer. He smacked his bowl onto the stone floor and stood as well. "At least I'm not a stupid water peasant," he shot back in frustration.

Everyone was still except their heads looking back and forth between the two. Aang eventually stood and raised his hands between them nervously. "L-Listen, maybe you two should -"

Katara glared at Zuko over Aang's head. "You're so selfish and petty!"

"_You're_ rude and stubborn!"

"_You're_ just plain annoying!"

"At least I'm not so… so…"

"So _what_?!"

"Distrustful!"

"Guys…"

Aang's small voice was ignored. "Gee, I _wonder_ why. It couldn't have _anything_ to do with the fact that you _chased_ us all over the world just a few months ago!"

"I already told you, I've changed!"

"How am I supposed to believe that?!"

"Maybe if you'd give me a chance -"

"I gave you a chance in Ba Sing Se, and look how great _that_ turned out!"

"Hey, listen you two…"

"So I made a mistake. I already said I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, you _are_ sorry!"

"At least I'm _trying_ to be _civil_!"

"You call _this_ civil?!"

"Hey, cut it out!"

"You started it!"

"So?!"

"So… It's a good thing your… hair loopies are gone now, because I hated them!"

"Well, I hate…" She opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds, trying to think of something to use as a proper insult. "...your scar!"

The ground under Katara shifted, knocking her off her feet, just as a column of air sliced between her and Zuko. She fell onto her back, the wind knocked out of her temporarily. "That's enough!" Aang bellowed. Katara sat up to see Zuko in the same position as her, Aang and Toph standing between them.

"You both are the most childish people I've ever met!" Toph exclaimed, hands on her hips.

"Tell that to her," Zuko muttered as he rose to his feet and turned around, heading for his room.

Katara stood too, brushing herself off. "Go cry to your mother," she growled venomously. He punched the wall with a grunt, flames spurting angrily from his fist, but she refused to allow herself to feel guilt as she turned on her heels and stomped to her own room.

* * *

She gripped the window sill tightly as she heard her bedroom door swing open. "What do you want?" she snapped. "Go away."

"That was low, even for you," Toph said, undeterred by Katara's obviously foul mood. Katara turned to find her leaning against the door frame.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied, looking away again. Another cylinder of earth hit in the exact same place as before. "Ow! Would you stop doing that?!"

"Then stop lying." Toph held up a foot with a grin. "My lie detectors aren't burnt anymore, you know."

"And whose fault is it that they got burned in the first place?" Katara asked slyly.

"That's not the point," Toph snapped, suddenly serious again. "And I already told you, it was an accident." She walked over and plopped onto Katara's bed. "I snuck up on him in the middle of the night when he was sleeping. I wasn't thinking."

"That doesn't change what he did."

"But it makes it forgivable."

Katara said nothing, choosing to neglect her by looking out the window across the canyon. The other side was impossible to see in the dim light of the rising moon.

"Do you even know how he got his scar?" Toph asked.

"Do I even care?"

"His dad gave it to him, Katara!" Toph said, intent on putting her through a guilt trip. "His father challenged him to a duel just because he spoke out of turn. When Zuko wouldn't fight, his _own father_ burned and banished him!"

Katara used her anger to disregard the pricklings of her conscience. "So what?" she mumbled half-heartedly. She could feel Toph's blind, penetrating stare on her back, a stare that seemed to see what normal people couldn't, but she ignored that as well. "How'd you know about his scar, anyway?"

"Unlike _some_ people, I'm not a total psycho to him, so he actually talks to me." Katara was silent, so Toph went on. "What exactly happened in Ba Sing Se to make you so mad at him?"

"Why don't you go ask your new friend?" she spat. "I'm sure he can tell you all about how he lured me into thinking he was different and then snapped the trap."

"I want to hear it from you."

Katara glanced at her, then crossed her arms and turned around to lean against the windowsill. "There's not much to tell," she grumbled. "I was mad when I saw him and started yelling, and I told him that the fire nation killed my mom. He said that was 'something we have in common.' We started talking about his scar, and I even offered to heal it!" Her fingernails started digging into the skin of her arms. "Then Aang and Zuko's uncle came in, and he turned his back on us! It's all because of him that Aang almost _died_!"

A silence passed between them until Toph spoke up quietly. "There's more to it than that, isn't there." It was more a statement than a question; Toph could read her emotions so easily.

Katara glared at the door. "I don't want to talk about it," she said firmly.

"Too bad, because I'm not going anywhere until you do." Toph lay down and stretched out on Katara's bed for effect.

Katara switched her glare to Toph for a few seconds, then let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her whole body was slumped in resignation and she was staring at the floor.

"You know how I felt about Jet," she said. Her voice was softer now, sadder, like when she talked about her mom. Toph didn't respond except to sit back up, and the hush compelled her to continue. "When I saw Zuko, at first I saw him as the same guy who had chased us around all that time. But after he started talking about his mom, I looked at him again and…" She paused, biting her lip to keep back the tears. It was too fresh a wound, too painful…

When she was sure she had control of herself, she continued. "For just a second, I thought I saw Jet." She let the statement resound in the stillness of the air, remembering the freedom fighter she had fallen so hard for, remembering what he had done and what had happened... "And when Zuko double crossed us, it was like Jet betraying me all over again! Zuko really hurt me back there, and he can't be forgiven. I can't ever trust him again."

"You can't trust him, or you won't?" Katara turned her head to scowl at Toph. She opened her mouth to speak, but Toph help up a hand to stop her. "I think I now understand what's going on with you, but there's something you need to understand too. Zuko isn't Jet, and he isn't the same guy as before. He really has changed, Katara, and he's really sorry."

Katara looked away again. "I can't trust him," she repeated forcefully.

"Well, could you at least be a little less mean to him?" Toph asked. "Not just for his sake, but for everyone's. For _Aang's_ sake. He gets really worried, you know, and he doesn't know what to do when you guys fight like that. Just take it easier on Zuko, okay? Don't bite his head off every five seconds."

"I'll… try," she replied, forcing the words out of her mouth.

"Good." Toph jumped from Katara's bed and stretched with a yawn. "I'm going to check on how Aang's doing talking to Zuko, and then I'm going to bed. Good night, Sugar Queen!"

Katara couldn't help but smile; even though her life was completely upside down now, even though her father was in prison and they had more mouths to feed and their worst enemy was teaching Aang fire bending… Even through all that, Katara knew Toph would never change. She would always be the blind little earth bender Katara knew and loved. "Good night, Toph."

Before that blind little earth bender could walk out the door, Katara stopped her. "Wait."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I feel better now that I've told someone."

"That was kinda the point," she replied, grinning as she left.

* * *

"Zuko, I'm sorry," she said bluntly and without feeling. She sighed and changed her tone to a more (and faker) sincere one. "I'm _really_ sorry about yesterday, and I just wanted to say…" She shook her head and adopted a more casual pose. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said those things, whatever. My bad." She looked down at Momo expectantly, but he just blinked up at her and curled back into the little ball he'd been in before she woke him up. "Alright, alright, just a few more," she said hastily.

She passed a fair bit of the night going through a dozen different poses, expressions, and tones, but none of them felt right, and Momo wasn't much help. He just didn't look or act like Zuko, and he kept falling asleep on her. She would've given up and come back to Appa and Momo's stable in the daytime, but then the others might've walked in on her.

"Last one, I promise," she said tiredly. She did her best to visualize Zuko in place of Momo. This incited her rage, but she bit her lip and did her best to keep from stomping away. "Okay. I think I may have gone a little too far yesterday, and I just wanted to say that I'm -"

"Sorry?"

She gave a stifled yelp as she whirled around and bent the water from her flask. It was mostly out before she calmed down and remembered that he wasn't an enemy anymore. She bent the water back and glowered at Zuko through the dark of midnight.

"A _little_ too far?" he asked sarcastically.

She bristled, a blush creeping up her face. How long had he been spying on her? "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

He lifted a finger and created a small ball of fire so that they could both see better. "I was walking around because I couldn't sleep," he replied. "What about you?"

She crossed her arms and scowled, then sighed when she remembered why she was there in the first place. "Look, Aang doesn't like it when we fight, so I want to stop. And about what I said earlier..." She took a deep breath. "I'm -"

"You don't have to say it. I heard." He walked towards her and gathered some hay together in a secluded pile, where he set fire to it. "I did that, too, when I was getting ready to join you guys."

"What, talk to Momo?"

"It was a badger-frog, actually." He sat beside his fire and looked up at her. "I don't want to fight anymore either. Let's try to talk this out."

She sat across from him, able to see him easily over the small flames. It was silent but for the crackle of the fire. Katara didn't know what to say, didn't want to say anything. She was frustrated and mad and hurt and suspicious and she didn't want to deal with it, but she had to. _For Aang._ Still, that didn't mean she had to enjoy it, did it? She opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry," Zuko said quietly, breaking the silence first. "I _did_ betray you, and by helping Azula, I caused Aang to get hurt, and I know how much you care about him. I was confused, and I thought I wanted things that I now realize I didn't. But I _know_ that I want to help Aang defeat my father and restore peace to the world."

"But that's doesn't excuse my actions," he admitted. "I'm not looking for excuses or your forgiveness. I'll probably never get either. I'm just looking for a way to gain your acceptance and trust."

She refused to look at him. Instead, she turned her whole body away, staring at the floor, looking for words to say that wouldn't start another argument.

Zuko let out a shaky breath. "I'm trying to stay calm here, but it's really hard when you just sit there and don't say anything."

"This is just… hard for me too," she muttered without sparing him a glance. "What you did to me hurt. A lot. I thought things were finally going to get better for us. There would've been one less enemy and one more friend... Aang would've had a fire bending teacher earlier... You could've helped us infiltrate the fire nation on the day of the eclipse, and we could've stopped this war right then and there..." She laughed bitterly. "I got my hopes up way too high for someone like you. And then you smashed them right back down, like I should've known you would."

"What can I do to show you that I'm not the same person anymore?"

"There's nothing you _can_ do!" she snapped, scowling at him over her shoulder. The firelight played tricks with the shadows on his face, causing his scar to look larger and more foreboding than it ever had before. Remembering what Toph said about it, she turned away again. "I'm… sorry," she said without completely meaning it. "I realize you've probably been through a lot. I just need time, okay? This isn't something that can heal overnight." He nodded and shifted as though he were about to say something but didn't know how to start. "What?"

"… Toph told me to ask you what you saw back in Ba Sing Se," he said. "What was it? What did you see?"

_Traitor._ "Nothing."

He gave a small, weary smile. "She also said you would try to get out of telling me."

"And she was right."

"Why don't you just tell me and get it over with?"

"Because I don't want to talk about it. Especially not with you."

"Why not? What did you see?"

"Ask Toph."

"I want to hear it from you!" he shouted, frustrated.

Toph's words in Zuko's voice caused something in Katara to snap. She stood up and whirled around to face him. "I saw Jet, okay?!" she snarled. He was silent, and she was reminded too strongly of her blind little earth bender. _I can't do this._ She felt tears pricking at her eyes; it was one thing to have Toph say these things to her, another entirely for Zuko to. Soon he would be calling her Sugar Queen, and it was too much, too wrong.

"I think I know who you're talking about," he said gently, quietly, trying to break the tension. "I met him on the way to Ba Sing Se. We stole food from the captain and gave it to everyone else on the ship. But then he found out that my uncle and I were fire benders, and he attacked us in Ba Sing Se."

Pieces clicked into place. "What... happened to him after that?" she asked breathlessly.

"I think he got arrested. Why?"

"It was _your_ fault!" she cried in sudden realization. "You're the reason he was brainwashed! You're the reason we had to go through all that! You're the reason he _died_!" Tears were sliding down her cheeks, but she didn't even notice. "It was all because of _you_," she whispered, her heart jumping into her throat.

He stood and reached out a hand to her over the fire. "Katara, I didn't -"

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, splashing water in his face and retreating a few steps. She shook with rage. "You… You… And to think, I actually saw him in you!"

He blinked in confusion. "What? What are you -?"

"In Ba Sing Se!" she interrupted ferociously. "For just a second, when I looked at you, I saw _him_!" She ran her arm across her eyes, collecting her tears with water bending and flinging them into the dirt. "I loved him, and you're the reason he's gone…" She sank to her knees with her face buried in her hands, exhaustion and heartache catching up with her all at once.

A hush fell over them, each lost in their own thoughts. Through all the anguish she was feeling, Katara could hear a small voice in the back of her mind that sounded like Toph's telling her that it wasn't Zuko's fault. _He was just defending himself. He couldn't help it. He didn't mean for things to turn out like they did. He's sorry._

_But that doesn't change what he did._

_But it makes it forgivable_.

She pushed Toph's voice away feebly, not wanting to hear it.

"I didn't realize," Zuko said after a long time, breaking into her thoughts. When she looked up at him, he was sitting again and staring at the ground. "I didn't know how much pain I really caused you. Saying sorry isn't enough, and it'll never be. I don't think even time will be able to heal this wound." His hand went to his scar automatically. "All this time, I thought it was something I could fix with just a few words or actions, but… now I don't think so." He looked at her. "I won't stop trying to make it up to you; I just don't think I ever can."

He stood and gave her a low bow. "I'm sorry, Katara, and I can't tell you how much I mean it. Good night."

He turned to go, but he stopped at the doorway and looked back at her. "I originally came here to tell you about my mother. When we were…" He stopped, considering his words carefully, but then he decided to omit them entirely. "I thought what I told you was true. But when I left my father, he told me that my mother was actually banished, not dead."

Katara touched her necklace, her _mother's_ necklace, and it felt as though he was stabbing her over and over again in her chest by bringing up everyone she had ever lost and rubbing it in her face. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked through the tears, teeth gritted.

"I wanted you to know," he answered. "I didn't want you to find out later and think that I lied. Also, I… I had hoped that you would come with me to find her after this war was over. But now I don't think that's ever going to happen."

Katara hated Zuko in that moment. He was asking the impossible, the painful; he wanted her to come with him and then just sit back and watch as he was reunited with his mom, something she could never do. It just wasn't fair. She had done good her entire life; she always did her chores back at home, she helped everyone and anyone she could even when doing so put her in danger, she was going to save the world with Aang and the others… and what was her reward?

Loss. Pain. Confusion. Suffering.

And yet here was Zuko who'd only just started doing good a few days ago. All this time he'd been committed to bringing harm to the world's last hope. He was the very definition of evil, using any means to get what he wanted, including kidnapping. He _betrayed_ them. And what was his reward? He found out his mom was alive and would probably even get to see her again, something Katara would give _anything_ to be able to do just _once_.

But when she looked at him, she suddenly saw her own life's trials reflected a million times over in those tired eyes.

Losing her mother couldn't compare to Zuko losing his; where she'd had an entire village and all her friends for support, the only one who really cared for Zuko was his uncle. The pain she felt when Aang accidentally burned her hands was nothing to Zuko's father intentionally burning his son's face. Her confusion, trying to sort out her feelings about Zuko and Jet and whether or not to trust him again, was trite when faced with the deep internal struggle Zuko had already faced about his identity and choosing which path to take. He had done horrible things, but they had seemed necessary in his eyes at the time, and he had always felt like he was doing the right thing chasing Aang. Now that he knew that what he had done was wrong, he had to face the consequences of his actions, consequences that were tearing him apart.

He was suffering more than she could ever possibly know, and she was only adding to the problem.

"Good night," Zuko said again, unaware of all that had just passed. He walked away, and Katara was left alone with only a dying fire and her thoughts for company.

_He betrayed us once before,_ Katara's mind repeated over and over. _He tricked me. He deceived me. He made me believe he was different, when really he wasn't at all. I can't trust him. I can't._

_You saw what was in his eyes,_ Toph's voice argued, only she realized now that it wasn't Toph, just another part of her mind that was heavily influenced by the little girl. You_ saw what he's been through. He _has_ changed this time. He really has. Why else would he join us?_

_To hurt us again! He's going to lead us right into his father's hands!_

_His father was the one who burned him. Why would he do anything for that man?_

_When it came down to it last time he did! He'll just do the same!_

_But he was confused back then. Now he's resolute. His mind is made up. He won't repeat his mistake._

_But he betrayed us once before._

Back and forth her mind went, tossing around the same reasons and arguments over and over as though she were a storm flinging debris everywhere. She wanted to believe him. She didn't want to believe him. He could be trusted. He couldn't be trusted. She touched her necklace again, fingers closing around the stone in the center, and suddenly a new voice imposed itself over both of hers.

"_Since when have you been afraid of a little pain?"_ it asked. "_Since when has my little Katara been anything but my brave, kind little daughter?"_

"Afraid of pain?" she asked aloud, confused.

_"He hurt you once, and you are afraid that if you put your trust in him, he will do it again. But you shouldn't be afraid. And you need to try and put yourself in his shoes."_

Katara's mind became calm as sympathy pushed away any traces of anger and that tricky little emotion fear. How terrible was it for Zuko to know that he was different, to know that he was good now, and yet have to deal with someone so distrustful and suspicious and… _hateful_?

She stared at the dying embers of the fire. _"You know what to do now, don't you?"_

Katara nodded and yawned, suddenly realizing how tired she was. She crawled over to Appa, too tired to make it to her room. His soft fur wasn't such a bad alternative to her bed, however; in fact, it was comforting to be near another living, breathing creature. "I'll just give him... _one_ more chance," she muttered. Her eyes closed of their own free will. "If he messes up this time, though... too bad for him..."

_"He won't."_

She smiled as she slipped into dreams of her mom's warm embrace as they helped Zuko search for his mother in the frozen tundra of Katara's home.


End file.
